A wise man once asked: “Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?”.*
19-year old Souths playmaker Adam Doueihi answered that question after being unexpectedly given the opportunity to represent Lebanon on Sunday despite not having an NRL game under his belt. He captured it.
Named as 18th man for Lebanon’s opening World Cup clash against France, 19 year-old Doueihi was called into the team when experienced second-rower Chris Saab was unbelievably concussed during the warm up.
With Souths teammate Robbie Farah and Saab giving the young talent encouragement before the kick off, Doueihi had a dream debut, grabbing a debut try in the Cedars historic win over France.
“I didn’t quite absorb it at the start. I was a bit star struck because I haven’t been in a big game like this in my career,” said Doueihi
“[Chris Saab] spoke to me before the game and assured me that he believes in me.
“Playing with Robbie was awesome, before the game he came up to me and gave me some words of wisdom to settle the nerves.”
The young five-eighth started in an unfamiliar role, lining up in the centres, but didn’t shy away from responsibility and grew into the game. His ‘lanky’ frame was the perfect addition to the Lebanon edge and provided Mitchell Moses a good kicking option.
Losing himself in the music, the moment - Doueihi owned it. He found himself running the show with Moses to run away with the match for Lebanon.